SPK NETWORK WHITE PAPER

An incentivisation system for decentralised back-up storage on IPFS, file transfers, content delivery networks and encoding powered by Hive and Honeycomb .

REV	DATE	ISSUE DESCRIPTION	BY


R2	27-SEPT-2024	REVISED PER TESTNET LEARNINGS	SPK Proposal Team
R1	10-OCT-2023	ISSUED FOR IMPLEMENTATION	The Hive Community
R0	01-MAY-2021	ISSUED FOR FINANCING	The Hive Community

SUMMARY
1.1 SPK Network Diagram
SPK TOKENS
2.1 SPK Token Supply Expansion / Contraction
2.2 SPK Power
2.3 SPK Power for Governance Voting
2.4 SPK Power for Storage Capacity
LARYNX MINER TOKEN
3.1 How to Obtain LARYNX Miner Tokens
3.2 Mining Efficiency and Inflation
3.3 Delegation and Rewards
3.4 Reward Structure for Storage Providers
3.5 Delegation Strategy
BROCA GAS TOKEN
4.1 BROCA on Storage Contracts Determines SPK Token Distribution:
SIP (SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE POOLS)
TOKEN USE CASE SUMMARY / TOKENOMICS
DECENTRALISED PROPOSAL FUND
WEB 3.0 CONTENT SITES & BREAKAWAY COMMUNITIES
IPFS STORAGE SYSTEM
PROOF OF ACCESS PERMA WEB
10.1 Proof of Access Diagram
SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE NODES & MINING
11.1 Content Storage Nodes
11.2 Content Upload Nodes
11.3 Validator Nodes
11.4 Additional & Future Mining Types
OPEN SOURCE DESKTOP APP
UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGIES
13.1 Mining Mechanisms
13.2 Proof of Access System
13.3 NFTs
13.4 Service Infrastructure Pool (SIP)
13.5 SPK Network Proposal System (Phase II)
13.6 HIVE Blockchain
LIGHT ACCOUNT SYSTEM BLOCKCHAIN INTEROPERABILITY
COMMUNITY CONTENT REGULATION & DEMOCRATIC BLACKLISTING
15.1 Storage Miners and Content Validator Nodes Setting Content Policies
15.2 Custom Open Source Content Blocklists
LICENSING
CLAIM DROP
17.1 History
17.2 Unclaimed tokens:
PHASE II – FUTURE SCOPE
18.1 General
18.2 SIP (SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE POOLS)
18.3. DECENTRALISED PROPOSAL FUND
18.4 Content Storage Nodes
18.5 Content Delivery Network Gateways

1. SUMMARY

The SPK Network is a decentralized Web 3.0 protocol that fairly and autonomously rewards value creators and infrastructure providers by distributing reward tokens. This ensures that every user, creator, and platform has the opportunity to earn rewards on a level playing field.

Over time, the SPK Network aims to offer decentralized storage, token creation, NFT creation, immutable breakaway communities, and direct digital ownership of creators' accounts and digital assets on a Web 3.0 DPoS protocol, where creators cannot be censored by centralized gatekeepers.

As the distributed successor to the legacy Web 2.0 big tech censors, the SPK Network will have no CEO and will be jointly owned by all participants who understand the importance of decentralization, freedom, and especially free speech.

When protocols replace CEOs and gatekeepers become communities, we can reclaim our natural right to free speech, a marketplace of ideas, and free, open debate.

Website: https://spk.Network
Discord Chat SPK Network: https://discord.gg/RqhcNbqWJj
SPK Network Telegram chat: https://t.me/spkNetwork
3Speak Desktop App platform: https://github.com/spknetwork/3Speak-app/releases/latest
SPK Network Linktree: https://linktr.ee/spknetwork
3Speak Linktree: https://linktr.ee/3speak
Proof of Access Linktree: https://linktr.ee/proofofaccess

1.1 SPK Network Diagram

A1: Buy SPK Tokens from DEX's
A2: Sell SPK Tokens on DEX's
B1: Power up SPK Tokens to SPK Power
B2: Power down SPK Power to SPK Tokens
C: Use SPK Power to vote in SPK Network governance decisions
D: Obtain BROCA gas resources based on amount of SPK Power held
E: BROCA recharges over 5 days (20% per day)
F: Add BROCA resources to a contract - the more BROCA the longer the storage period and the more can be stored
G: Storage nodes can grab files from storage contracts and back them up - the more BROCA on a contract the bigger the rewards
H: Rewards paid out in SPK based on amount of BROCA on storage contracts
i: Mine more efficiently by obtaining LARYNX Miner tokens from the SIP by paying in Hive and competing in the daily reverse auction
J/L: Mine more efficiently by obtaining LARYNX Miner tokens from the SPK DEX
K/M: Validator and storage nodes must power up their LARYNX Miner tokens in order to mine in the network. The more LARYNX powered up, the more efficently the node mines SPK Tokens

2. SPK TOKENS

The SPK token serves as the governance token of the network. SPK token holders can influence the governance of the network through their voting power, which is determined by the amount of SPK they have powered up. To vote, users must power up their SPK, with full voting power becoming available after 30 days. This delay helps the network protect itself from potential Sybil attacks.

The SPK token also represents the provable storage capacity of the SPK Network. Proof of Access (as outlined in Section 10) drives SPK inflation, distributing rewards to service providers and those who delegate their LARYNX Miner Tokens (Section 3).

Additionally, users can stake their SPK tokens to access BROCA, the network's gas or resource credit token. This means that the network's provable storage capacity is distributed among SPK token holders.

2.1 SPK Token Supply Expansion / Contraction

Under normal operation, the network’s storage capacity is assumed to gradually expand, and the SPK token issuance adjusts its inflation rate accordingly to match the utilization of available storage within the network.

In times of extreme network growth, the SPK token supply can rapidly expand to meet new demand. This occurs when storage utilization exceeds 60% of the network's capacity for a 24-hour period. During such periods, the SPK supply increases to ensure there is enough BROCA (the network's resource credit or gas token) available in users' accounts to support new storage contracts. Newly issued SPK tokens are distributed to users running nodes with proven storage capacity, with the expectation that they will stake these tokens, thus recharging their BROCA tokens. This helps incentivize new storage contracts and meet the surge in storage demand. Delegators of LARYNX miner tokens to these storage operators also receive a portion of the newly issued SPK tokens. Additionally, users operating storage validator nodes are awarded a share of the new SPK tokens under these expansionary conditions.

In contrast, when the available storage is shrinking, the SPK token employs Deflationary Frictionless Staking (DFS). This system penalizes "weak hands" (those who sell or unstake) and rewards "strong hands" (those who hold and stake). To implement DFS, during periods of shrinking storage capacity, a nominal fee, called the "Transaction Tax," is applied to every transaction or DEX trade. This fee is proportional to the rate of storage deflation and is burned, reducing the SPK token supply. This mechanism increases the relative value of remaining tokens and aligns the provable storage capacity with the token supply.

It is important to note that during normal storage growth or extreme network expansion, as outlined above, the DFS fee is not applied.

2.2 SPK Power

SPK exists in three possible forms: liquid (simply called SPK), staked for liquidity provision, or powered up (known as SPK Power). SPK is one of the liquid currencies of the network and can be traded, staked, powered up, bought, or sold.

SPK Power (SP), the staked version of SPK, is created through a process called "powering up." Once powered up, SPK Power can be fully or partially un-staked at any time, through a process known as "powering down." During power down, SPK Power converts back into its liquid form (SPK) over a four-week period, with a portion released every 7 days.

2.3 SPK Power for Governance Voting

Holding SPK Power grants users governance rights within the network. The more SPK Power a user has, the more influence their vote holds. SPK Power also determines a user's ability to influence network variables directly. If a user doesn't vote on network variables, their vote is automatically proxied to the elected content validators, ensuring no vote is wasted or inactive.

2.4 SPK Power for Storage Capacity

SPK Power is tied to the resource credit BROCA, with 1 SPK Power generating up to 1,000,000 BROCA, which replenishes over a five-day period. This amount of BROCA can purchase 1,000,000 Kb of network storage for 30 days. Under normal conditions, the network targets a capacity of up to 6,000,000 Kb (~6GB) of continuously renewing storage contracts per SPK Power in a user’s account (6 x 5-day periods in 30 days).

SPK staking is a proposed feature for the SIP in Phase II (see Section 18).

3. LARYNX MINER TOKEN

LARYNX exists in four possible forms:

Liquid form (simply called LARYNX): LARYNX in its most flexible state, which can be traded, bought, or sold.
Locked for Mining via service registration: This form requires LARYNX to be locked alongside running infrastructure in the network, allowing storage node operators to mine SPK tokens. Once locked for mining, LARYNX cannot be unstaked.
Powered up for delegation to storage node operators: Users who are not running infrastructure can delegate their powered-up LARYNX to storage node operators, allowing them to earn SPK tokens.
Staked for DEX collateral provision: Users can stake LARYNX as collateral for decentralized exchange (DEX) purposes. This can be unstaked and enables users to mine SPK tokens. The more LARYNX staked for DEX collateral, the more efficient and profitable SPK mining becomes.

3.1 How to Obtain LARYNX Miner Tokens:

Sending HIVE to the SIP: Initially, the HIVE is distributed to Proof of Access infrastructure providers. In the future, community consensus updates may direct a portion of this HIVE to stay within the SIP as permanent liquidity that grows over time.
Buying LARYNX Miner Tokens on the open market.

LARYNX Miner Token inflation is auctioned daily through purchases made from the SIP. Users who send the most HIVE to the SIP on a given day will receive the largest proportion of that day's LARYNX Miner Token supply.

3.2 Mining Efficiency and Inflation:

Locking LARYNX for mining increases mining efficiency. However, due to inflation, the effectiveness of LARYNX in mining will decrease by half over every two-year period (100% inflation over 24 months).

3.3 Delegation and Rewards

Any network user can delegate their locked LARYNX to infrastructure providers, allowing them to earn a fixed percentage of the provider's SPK rewards. This delegation system allows users who are unable to operate infrastructure to still support the network while receiving rewards in return. Infrastructure providers benefit from LARYNX delegations, as they can allocate their capital to expanding their infrastructure.

3.4 Reward Structure for Storage Providers:

A storage provider’s rewards are based on the total amount of LARYNX they have staked and delegated, relative to the total staked and delegated network-wide:

Lowest 15th percentile: 1 part rewards.
16th to 85th percentile: 2 parts rewards.
86th to 100th percentile: 3 parts rewards.

Storage node operators receive SPK inflation rewards based on the proven storage capacity they provide. This creates a LARYNX miner token delegation market with rewards driven by market dynamics. It also incentivizes users who don’t run infrastructure to delegate their LARYNX Miner Tokens to storage operators, sharing in the operators’ rewards.

3.5 Delegation Strategy:

LARYNX Miner Token delegators can optimize their rewards by delegating to lower-ranked but reliable storage operators. These operators may have fewer delegations, meaning the delegators don’t need to share the rewards with as many others. This creates an arbitrage opportunity, as delegators who choose reliable, lower-ranked operators can potentially earn more rewards compared to those delegating to higher-ranked operators, where the rewards are divided among more participants.

4. BROCA GAS TOKEN

BROCA is the network's gas token, consumed when users upload content and automatically regenerating as long as the user holds SPK Power. Similar to how Ethereum users pay gas fees to process transactions, content uploaders and platforms on the network provide BROCA tokens as an incentive to infrastructure providers, such as storage node operators.

Though not liquid, BROCA can be bundled into third-party storage contracts, allowing platforms to offer a free experience to first-time users by providing them with pre-loaded storage contracts. This enables users to store content without needing to buy BROCA initially.

Each BROCA token allows for 1KB of backup storage across three separate storage nodes for a period of 30 days. Storage contracts can be extended proportionally by sending more BROCA, which adjusts the contract's duration. If additional backup storage is required, users can pay extra, for example, adding 1/3 more BROCA to incentivize a fourth storage node to store their contract.

Contracts must begin with a minimum of 100 BROCA to deter spam. Any unused BROCA is refunded to the contract funder. This allows platforms to create storage contracts that facilitate file uploads for their users based on the BROCA/KB amount, with refunds for any unused portions.

As the network’s Proven Storage Capacity grows, SPK is minted and staked, leading to a proven storage-backed expansion in the BROCA supply. This ensures that BROCA can always be used to purchase additional storage capacity on the network, maintaining liquidity based on Proven Network Storage supply.

4.1 BROCA on Storage Contracts Determines SPK Token Distribution:

BROCA on contracts drives the distribution of SPK paid to storage nodes. Storage nodes receive SPK Tokens for providing successful storage proofs based on the amount of BROCA attached to the contracts they are storing.

5. SIP (SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE POOLS)

Service Infrastructure Pools (SIPs) are DeFi pools that autonomously sell digital products to a community in exchange for payments into the pool. These payments are used to create a liquidity pool with no owners or initial stakers. If the product remains in continuous demand, its sale generates growing capital for liquidity provision. The fees from this liquidity pool are returned to subsidize the network's key infrastructure providers. This structure allows SIP operators and major network infrastructure operators to earn fees instead of centralized exchange operators.

SIPs executed on Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) chains enable the network to perform fee-less, nearly instant DeFi transactions, making them highly competitive compared to traditional DeFi systems.

In the SPK Network, the SIP sells LARYNX Miner tokens, which are inflationary and have continuous demand from miners and storage operators who need to lock LARYNX Miner Tokens to enhance mining efficiency. The SPK Network SIP also provides liquidity to the DEX and conducts LARYNX Miner Token auctions.

LARYNX Miner Tokens can either be powered up and delegated or staked as collateral for securing the DEX and LARYNX auctions. While SPK is directly tied to network storage resources, LARYNX’s value is proven through daily auctions and its role in the DEX.

SIP Node Operators (DEX operators) stake LARYNX as collateral, providing liquidity to the SIP, which is also the SIP liquidity pool. These operators receive LARYNX at a rate aligned with its inflation, removing the inflationary penalty for holding LARYNX as collateral. The inflation and DEX fees are distributed to SIP/DEX infrastructure operators, ensuring that, despite high inflation, LARYNX remains a stable collateral compared to SPK, which represents network utility.

For certain applications like liquidity provision and collateralization on the DEX/SIP, the network uses unparametered coin voting (Proof of Stake) with staked LARYNX Miner tokens as the governance model. The primary factor in securing multisignature liquidity is the amount of collateral staked by operators. The more collateral staked, the more they stand to lose in case of collusion but also the more rewards and governance influence they gain, including factors such as fees and collateral requirements.

In contrast, governance of the SPK Network for content storage and regulation is more socially driven and uses parametered coin voting (DPoS) weighted by SPK Power stake. The community elects the most influential infrastructure operators, allowing even users with small stakes to influence the network by electing representatives to set key governance variables.

DEX/SIP operators can also run SPK Network storage nodes and be elected into the top 20 SPK Network Content Validator positions by the community. SPK Power holders vote on DEX fees, and if DEX/SIP operators are elected as content validators, they gain an additional income stream from validator rewards, potentially allowing them to run the DEX with lower exchange fees.

By contrasting DPoS (SPK) for SPK Network and storage governance with PoS (LARYNX) for DEX/SIP governance, the network ensures optimal functionality for both areas while keeping exchange fees low. The incentives for both governance systems are related but non-competing.

In Phase II, the SIP model will be further developed (see Section 18). The vision includes extending the SIP model to various digital services on DPoS chains, not limited to infrastructure providers for content but adaptable to other types of infrastructure.

Important Note on Current SIP Configuration:

At present, SIP/DEX node operators earn from DEX fees, while storage providers earn both BROCA and SPK rewards through the Proof of Access algorithm. Additionally, they earn all HIVE paid into the SIP for LARYNX Miner Tokens. In the future (Phase II - see section 18), HIVE paid into the SIP will remain as permanent liquidity, and a portion of DEX/SIP exchange fees will be paid to DEX node operators and storage infrastructure providers.

6. TOKEN USE CASE SUMMARY / TOKENOMICS

Token	Uses	Transaction Fee	Obtain by	Inflation Model
LARYNX	- Improve mining efficiency - Delegate to storage providers to earn SPK - Provide DEX Collateral - Register Network Services	Feeless	Purchase from SIP DeFi Pool	100% in 2 Years
BROCA	- Pay for Storage - Network gas token / resource credits	Feeless	Powering up SPK	1 SPK Power allows up to 1,000,000 BROCA, replenishing over 5 days
SPK	- Power Up for Governance - SP Stake Weighted Governance - Powering up replenishes BROCA balance	Transaction fee if Network storage is contracting	Store content Delegate to storage providers to earn SPK	- Inflates with proven network storage - Deflates with decreasing network storage
HIVE	- Daily auction of LARYNX Miner Tokens	Feeless	Storing Content	Inflationary

LARYNX Miner Tokens are locked for mining alongside Network infrastructure provision by the Miner. The miners then get paid in SPK and Hive Auction Payments. The payments help to decentralises the Network making it more secure and begins the distribution of the supply of SPK governance tokens.

7. DECENTRALISED PROPOSAL FUND

See Phase II – Future Scope (Section 18)

8. WEB 3.0 CONTENT SITES & BREAKAWAY COMMUNITIES

Breakaway Communities are content creators and their communities that establish themselves on the Hive blockchain and SPK Network. They benefit from features like direct account ownership, DeFi capabilities, tokenization, NFTs, distributed storage, and censorship resistance, all outside the control of mainstream Web 2.0 systems.

Independent, self-hosting content creator websites can leverage the network to build immutable Breakaway Communities. This includes direct account ownership, social token economies, NFTs, and distributed storage of their content.

Various types of files, such as images (for tokenized memes and thumbnails), videos, NFTs, or even encrypted files shared with specific accounts, can be stored on the network's IPFS system in a decentralized manner. The only restriction comes from the morality standards of the service providers and validators. Third parties focused on content moderation and payouts are expected to emerge to support this.

Additionally, alternative content platforms can integrate these systems to enhance their own operations. They can even use their existing video infrastructure on the network to earn mining rewards. 3Speak.tv is a fully functional example that operates on the network.

Content platforms integrating with the SPK Network will benefit from a suite of Web 3.0 tools, including:

IPFS content storage on the network's perma-web
Token creation system for content creators
Soul-bound NFT badge creation and royalty system
Immutable Breakaway Community creation
Web 3.0 account ownership system, where user accounts are independently owned by the user base, not by the platform (unlike Web 2.0)
Network effects from sharing and accessing content through the perma-web and Hive blockchain

Moreover, the network allows the registration of user-specified service and infrastructure provider types not covered in this document, creating room for future expansion.

9. IPFS STORAGE SYSTEM

IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a distributed, public storage system used by the network for content storage. It works by taking content files, hashing them, and generating a unique Content Identification Number (CID) for each file. This CID serves as a unique address for retrieving that file from the network.

As users interact with content via desktop applications on the network, they automatically "pin" the files to their local IPFS node, sharing the content with others. This allows content miners to copy and distribute the files widely across the network, ensuring decentralized propagation and long-term availability.

For more information on IPFS hashes and how content addressing works, you can visit the official IPFS documentation: Content Addressing in IPFS.

10. PROOF OF ACCESS PERMA WEB

The IPFS content storage system works in conjunction with a Proof of Access (PoA) mining mechanism to incentivize and distribute file storage across the network.

Storage miners, one of the key infrastructure node types, are rewarded by the network through a lottery system tied to the head block. They earn rewards by proving that they have stored specific files. PoA incentivizes miners to store as much of the network's historical data as possible to increase their chances of proving access to these files and, consequently, receiving mining rewards.

For example:

If a storage miner stores 100% of the network’s content, they will receive a mining reward 100% of the time.
If a miner stores 10% of the network’s content, they will receive a mining reward 10% of the time.

This system effectively creates an incentivized Perma-Web, where the permanent storage of content is rewarded. The stored content is accessible and usable by all front-ends, websites, platforms, and communities built on the network.

Additionally, each IPFS file storage block is cryptographically linked, establishing a chronologically traceable timeline that shows when each piece of content was uploaded. This ensures transparency and immutability in content storage.

10.1 Proof of Access Diagram

11. SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE NODES & MINING

Infrastructure Nodes are the backbone of the SPK Network, operated by users to provide digital services that support the network’s infrastructure. These nodes come in various types: Content Pinning Nodes, Service Nodes, Storage Nodes, Content Delivery Network (CDN) Nodes, Validator Nodes, and Encoding/Transcoding Nodes.

Users can activate and configure the infrastructure nodes they wish to operate by downloading the Infrastructure Node Software Bundle, which offers a variety of node services via plugins.

All infrastructure nodes are referred to as "miners" on the network and receive incentives for running infrastructure services. The only mining that requires a dedicated blockchain mining mechanism is storage mining, which uses the Proof of Access (PoA) system. Rewards are distributed by the HoneyComb technology (see section 13), which tracks node activity.

Mining on the network is performed by locking LARYNX Miner Tokens and providing one of the following infrastructure services:

11.1 Content Storage Nodes

Content Storage Nodes allow users to offer distributed storage services for content files, using either local hard drives or industrial-scale remote servers. These nodes participate in the PoA mining process and receive SPK and BROCA mining rewards.

Storage nodes operate independently and can set their own preferences regarding which files they store, the maximum file size they accept, and other operational metrics.

11.2 Content Upload Nodes

Storage nodes can register their public address (WWW) with the SPK Network to receive uploads from users. These nodes can provide APIs to display available storage, maximum file sizes, and allow or refuse services to accounts based on any criteria (e.g., blocklists, non-LARYNX delegators).

11.3 Validator Nodes

Validator nodes perform independent, lottery-based spot checks on other network nodes to ensure that infrastructure providers are offering legitimate services in exchange for mining rewards.

The top 20 validator nodes are elected by the community through a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) system, where votes are weighted by SPK Power stakes. Validators also index the content on the network and store this information on the Hive Blockchain.

Validators ensure:

Content delivery quality
Response time reliability

11.4 Additional & Future Mining Types

Future types of mining will require further research and development (see Phase II Future Scope in section 18). As the network evolves, additional voting incentives and opportunities for infrastructure providers to vote for validators will be introduced.

In the future, community members will have the power to vote on the most profitable types of mining within the SPK Network. This can include Validator Operations, Content Storage, CDN operations, Uploading, Encoding, and DEX/SIP operations. As new mining types are added (e.g., live streaming node operations), the community will vote on how rewards are distributed among them.

Service providers can restrict access to their services based on any chosen metric, including voting preferences, which may influence community support and votes for their operations.

12. OPEN SOURCE DESKTOP APP

The 3Speak open-source desktop application is the first independent app to run on the SPK Network and utilize its IPFS storage system for content files. The goal is to create a platform where developers can contribute openly, allowing users to easily set up their own customized content platforms that benefit from the censorship resistance of the network.

If the 3Speak web application were ever shut down, all content and functionality would persist on the open-source desktop application. This makes the 3Speak desktop app an additional layer of security against external attempts to disrupt the platform. The same applies to other platforms running on the SPK Network.

The desktop application is downloaded and runs locally on the user’s device, ensuring a decentralized and resilient approach to content management.

As the project evolves, the Ecency open-source application will integrate 3Speak's video uploading feature and the Network's IPFS storage system. This will open the door for the SPK Network and Hive communities to submit their own front-end designs, enabling users to easily create stand-alone Breakaway Community websites or front-ends. These websites will have customizable designs and styles, backed by Ecency’s top-tier open-source technology.

For more on Ecency:

https://ecency.com/

Download the 3Speak Desktop App here:

https://github.com/spknetwork/3Speak-app/releases/latest

13. UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGIES

HoneyComb

HoneyComb is a software solution designed to build a decentralized network of peers that use the Hive blockchain to post and interpret transactions. This network enables peers to reach consensus and elect others to execute tasks. By distributing computing tasks, HoneyComb unlocks a wide range of potential applications, including DeFi and oracle services. Its decentralized design eliminates the need for intermediaries, central authorities, or intrinsic fees, creating a frictionless system for cross-asset interactions (e.g., HIVE/COMB) without information asymmetry, thus facilitating finance without securities.

Key Features and Scope of HoneyComb Technology:

Proof of Access & SPK Network Test Net: Facilitates decentralized storage mining.
LARYNX Miner Purchase Mechanism: Enables users to acquire LARYNX tokens for mining.
BROCA Incentive Token Release: Distributes BROCA tokens, which serve as the network's gas or resource credit token.
Develop BROCA Functionality: BROCA is used for storage, content delivery, encoding, and other network infrastructure services.
Stake Weighted Voting System: Allows network participants to vote on critical network variables, weighted by the amount of SPK Power they hold.
SPK DAO: Establishes a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to manage the network.
Mining Rewards Distribution System: Ensures fair distribution of rewards to infrastructure providers and miners.
Integration with Desktop App: Incorporates HoneyComb features and token systems into the SPK Network's desktop application.
Community Social Tokens Creation System: Allows communities to create their own social tokens.
Voting System: Users can see which infrastructure nodes each operator runs and vote them into validator positions using SPK tokens.

13.1 Mining Mechanisms

HoneyComb Integration with SPK Network Mining: Facilitates interaction between HoneyComb and the SPK Network's mining mechanisms.
Storage Mining (Proof of Access): Rewards miners for storing content and ensuring network integrity.
Validator Node Rewards: Compensates validator nodes that verify network operations and maintain consensus.

13.2 Proof of Access (PoA) System

PoA/Proof-of-Storage Hybrid Algorithm: Combines PoA with proof-of-storage to ensure efficient and secure storage mining.
PoA Manipulation Prevention: Safeguards against potential manipulation of the PoA algorithm.
Storage Node Metrics Collection: Gathers data to optimize storage mining rewards and network performance.

13.3 NFTs

NFT Marketplace and Bidding Platform: Enables users to create, buy, sell, and bid on NFTs.
NFT Storage on IPFS: Ensures decentralized and secure storage of NFTs on the IPFS system.
NFT Mining with Community Social Tokens: Allows users to stake social tokens to mine NFTs.
NFT Memes System: Facilitates the creation and distribution of meme NFTs.

13.4 Service Infrastructure Pool (SIP)

Liquidity Provision (DeFi): Users can stake assets in SIP for liquidity provision in decentralized finance.
LARYNX Token Purchases: Mechanism for purchasing LARYNX tokens through SIP.
Distribution to Infrastructure Providers: Hive from LARYNX purchases and DeFi fees are distributed to infrastructure providers (Phase II - see section 18).

13.5 SPK Network Proposal System (Phase II - Future)

Task Setting System: Community-driven task assignment system.
Funding Mechanism from SPK DAO: Provides financial support for approved proposals.
Task Bidding System: Allows participants to bid on tasks.
Bidder Voting System: Enables the community to vote on the best proposals for task completion.

For more details on HoneyComb, visit: https://www.dlux.io/docs/

13.6 HIVE Blockchain

The Hive blockchain serves as the primary text-based information storage system and the main Web 3.0 platform for user-owned accounts. Hive enables the storage and retrieval of immutable data strings and information with ease. It boasts three-second, feeless transactions and is designed to store vast amounts of content, facilitating time-based monetization.

Recognizing that transaction fees are a major obstacle to development and blockchain usability, Hive employs a novel stake-based Resource Credit (RC) mechanism, allowing it to operate in a fee-less manner. This creates flexibility for developers and users without the burden of transaction costs. Hive’s Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) protocol is one of the most decentralized and scalable models within the blockchain ecosystem.

Additionally, HIVE and Hive Power holders are eligible to receive LARYNX Miner Tokens as part of a token claim drop (see section 18 for more information on the claim drop).

For more information, visit:

Hive Ecosystem: Hive.io
Hive White Paper: Hive White Paper

14. LIGHT ACCOUNT SYSTEM BLOCKCHAIN INTEROPERABILITY

The community is working to adapt a light account system that will enable network access and upload capabilities for users of blockchain accounts like Hive, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.

By integrating this guest account system, an Ethereum account holder, for example, will be able to create a light account by cryptographically signing a message that proves they own the account. Once authenticated, the Ethereum user can post content to the network under their EID (Ethereum Identity) account name. Additionally, they will be able to send and receive content donations in Ethereum.

The same functionality will apply to users of Bitcoin, Hive and other blockchains. This system will allow seamless content sharing and tipping between users of these blockchains, making it easy to send and receive donations and interact across different ecosystems.

15. COMMUNITY CONTENT REGULATION & DEMOCRATIC BLACKLISTING

There are two types of content regulation possible within the SPK Network:

15.1 Storage Miners and Content Validator Nodes Setting Content Policies

Storage miners and validator nodes are incentivized to store as much of the network’s content as possible to maximize their chances of receiving mining rewards through the Proof of Access (PoA) system. The more content a miner backs upm the higher their rewards.

However, content moderation comes into play when socially ranked storage nodes (especially those highly rated by other validators in the PoA lottery) decide not to store specific content CIDs if they deem them too extreme or inappropriate. If enough highly ranked validator nodes refuse to store certain content, the rewards assiciated with it will drop significantly, making it more profitable to store other, community approved content. This leads to a form of decentralized, community-led content blacklisting, where no single central party decides what is stored. Instead, a consensus among the highest socially ranked content validator nodes determines what content remains incentivised on the network. These nodes are incentivized not only to store a large portion of the network but also to maintain their social reputation by curating acceptable content.

15.2 Custom Open Source Content Blocklists

Custom open-source content blocklists give users and platforms the ability to set their own content policies within the network. By identifying specific tags (e.g., NSFW or extreme content), users and platforms can create personalized content blocklists that filter out certain types of content. This allows them to experience the Perma-web in a tailored manner, avoiding exposure to undesired content. Anyone can subscribe to anyone elses blocklist, meaning they can tailor their viewing experiencee based on recommendations from other reputable users that they trust.

These content blocklists will be open source, enabling anyone on the network to apply or modify them to suit their needs. Additionally, the wider community will be able to identify incorrectly tagged content and apply NSFW tags to their own blocklists, ensuring that inappropriate content is properly categorized and excluded from certain content Blocklists.

This approach enables flexible and decentralized content moderation, empowering both the network's infrastructure providers and individual users to shape their own content experience while maintaining the open nature of the network.

16. LICENSING

Content uploaders on the SPK Network can choose to license their files, with initial support for Creative Commons Licenses and Public Domain Grants, allowing flexibility in how content is shared. Additional license types may be added in the future.

Once a file is licensed, its licensing terms can only be loosened, not restricted. For example, a file licensed under CC-BY-NC may be modified to CC-BY or CC0, but it cannot be made more restrictive, such as switching to CC-BY-NC-SA.

After the initial payment of BROCA or SPK into a contract to store a file, additional accounts can contribute funding to further incentivize the file's storage. If the original funder withdraws their funds or closes the contract, ownership of the contract will transfer to the next funder, if one exists. This creates competition between multiple communities or entities for ownership of the content, with the first party to claim the contract becoming eligible for storage rewards.

Furthermore, if several communities or entities are storing a file, they are rewarded in a precedence-based system, where the first to store the file receives the highest incentive. This system encourages a "race" to store funded files on the network, increasing the likelihood of widespread and timely content distribution.

17. CLAIM DROP

17.1 History

On February 6th, 2022, a one-time HIVE wallet balance blockchain snapshot was taken after a 90-day countdown. Following this snapshot, LARYNX Miner Tokens were distributed monthly to HIVE and Hive Power holders as part of the claim drop process. Users could claim their tokens by logging into the Dlux App each month to retrieve their balance.

17.2 Unclaimed Tokens

Approximately 30% of the tokens were claimed through the snapshot and claim process. An additional 15% of the unclaimed tokens are being held for community voting on how they should be distributed, such as for onboarding new content miners and infrastructure providers.

18. PHASE II – FUTURE SCOPE

18.1 General

As the SPK Network evolves, additional features are planned for future development, including but not limited to:

Unstaking Tax for SIP DeFi Pools: The SPK token will include an unstaking tax for users withdrawing from the SIP DeFi pools. A portion of the SPK being unstaked will be redistributed to the remaining liquidity pool providers. This mechanism, along with the network transaction tax (applicable during periods of storage contraction), will benefit long-term SPK Power holders by increasing their share of the BROCA pool. This encourages long-term staking of SPK tokens and promotes the use of the feeless BROCA token for utility within the network.
Payments into SIP for LARYNX Miner Tokens: Infrastructure providers will benefit from purchasing LARYNX tokens via the SIP using HIVE, improving their mining efficiency relative to other miners with similar infrastructure but fewer LARYNX tokens. In the future, the HIVE paid into the SIP for LARYNX purchases will be split between and staked into the SPK-HIVE and SPK-BROCA liquidity pool pairs within the SIP, creating permanent liquidity. Auto Market Makers will facilitate these exchanges.
SPK Bond Market: A future SPK bond market is planned, where SPK Power holders can earn additional governance rights and DeFi fees based on the amount of SPK Power they hold and the length of time they remain powered up. This will further incentivize long-term staking and engagement with network governance.

These additions aim to enhance network efficiency, incentivize participation, and grow the ecosystem's governance and DeFi capabilities over time.

18.2 SIP (SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE POOLS)

In the future, a portion of SIP DeFi fees will be directed to SPK Power token holders and users who stake SPK to the SIP. The amount allocated to these users will be determined by the community through a stake-weighted SPK Power vote.

Plans also include wrapping BTC and other Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) coins, creating a low-barrier alternative to the Lightning Network on Hive. Bridging to other high-end DeFi protocols, such as those using Solidity, will also be supported through the SIP.

SIPs allow DPoS chains to limit their governance token inflation while simultaneously rewarding long-term holders with DeFi fees from liquidity provision services. The SIP model can be applied to various digital services beyond just infrastructure providers for content.

As the project advances, Breakaway Communities (see Section 8) will have their own SIPs, which will connect into an optimized, multi-SIP infrastructure ecosystem. As detailed in Sections 3 and 19, users will pay HIVE for LARYNX Miner Tokens, automatically locking HIVE, SPK, and BROCA into SIP liquidity pools in exchange for services like network ad rights and token upgrades. This creates continuous liquidity growth within the SIP.

A fee or tax on staking and unstaking SPK to the SIP liquidity pools will be introduced. This incentivizes long-term holding of SPK Power by rewarding larger governance shares over time, while also creating deflationary pressure on the SPK token, encouraging long-term staking.

18.3 DECENTRALIZED PROPOSAL FUND

DeFi fees generated by SIPs for the Treasury can be used to fund community proposals, determined by the stake-weighted vote of SPK Power holders.

Community members can create scopes of work for network improvements, and developers will place competitive bids. The community will vote on which developer receives funding from the SIP DeFi fees in the Treasury, with a maximum monthly spending limit to control outflows.

18.4 CONTENT STORAGE NODES

In the future, Content Storage Nodes will be able to set their own minimum BROCA incentive fees and maximum file sizes they are willing to accept for storage.

18.5 CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK (CDN) GATEWAYS

Any user can set up a Content Delivery Network (CDN) Gateway to serve video content to viewers in the network. These gateways will also act as IPFS gateways and allow users to earn SPK and BROCA rewards.

CDN nodes will detect popular local content and store it to improve routing efficiency. Network throughput will be compared to individual CDN nodes' performance, and rewards will be based on responsiveness and content accuracy, as assigned by validator nodes. CDN Gateway node rewards will be paid out in BROCA and SPK inflation.

18.6 ENCODER / TRANSCODER NODES

Any user will be able to provide encoding and transcoding services to video uploaders on the network, receiving BROCA payments on a per-job basis. This system will facilitate decentralized, user-driven video encoding across the network.

SPK Network White Paper